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Jan 13, 2012

How to Start a Photoshop Composite Image

Where to start with a composite?

It can be very difficult to know what elements to start with when making a Photoshop Composite Image. The best way to do it in my experience is to start with the element you can’t really control, and work towards the elements you can.

First Things First

For this composite, we are starting with the background and building up from there. There are a lot of complex things going on in this final photo, and getting them all to work together is very hard.

By starting with the Background, we know how the entire image is lit, and we can model and photograph everything else to make sure that it does match. This also helps for choosing what Angle to photograph your subject.

What Are Your Ideas?

I will be making this image into a Phlearn PRO! What ideas do you have for the final, you can be famous!

30 Comments

Aaron – it might be cool if you added a villain/Amelia’s captures into the scene. maybe you see them in the background around a fire (introducing another light source) it could be like a small primitive tribe of people with spears and primitive weapons or even get crazy and do an abdominal snow man creature

It would be cool if the rope, in the final image, would look like it was a vine, or lianas (bad terms probably, but i don’t know other ones to say “a rope of wood” in english lol), it’d gave the image more sense and atmosphere in my opinion (there could be also leaves or flowers growing on it… I Don’t know exactly what you have in mind, but the wole thing make me think to a sort of birth or also “The Sleeping Beauty” theme :D)

I LOVE CATS AND YOURS IS ADORABLE 😀
Now that the important stuff is said lol jk, I think a good idea for the photo would be, going off of both Michael Benford and Tia GliUseless, would be like if she is a hostage, but its because she is a magical being and tries to use some sort of power to slowly unwrap her self and control the tribe or villian or another character. Concept: Escape with the power of the mind kind of.

This is off topic for today but…
Can anyone tell me why I’m getting so much grain with the Canon 5D Mark ii at relatively low ISO settings? Everything I’ve read said you can shoot with an extremely high ISO and have very little grain. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.

This was taken in my living room with only lamp light.
100 mm macro lens
f/2.8
ISO 800

I don’t think the noise is a problem in this picture. Unless you are making images for stock websites. In that case you need more light 😉
If you can use longer exposure time by 1/3 or 2/3EV, you can over expose end correct exposure in post (RAW file recommended!) Camera creates more noise in shadows then in high lights so – more light=less noise 😉

I guess I was just surprised to see so much grain with this camera at 800 ISO. I haven’t tried to edit RAW yet because my ACR is too old for the 5d
images . I’m buying Lightroom soon and will try your suggestion.
Thanks for taking the time to help. 🙂

Mmm something about being hanged upside down that makes me think fish! She could be a mermaid that got cought by Eskimos and they want to eat her for lunch 😀
Or maybe not Eskimos just Indians 😀
Sorry Amelia but I like the idea of people trying to cook you 😀

Serious question though, is this image going to have a “captured” feel to it or an “animalistic” feel? Like if she’s captured, I like the idea that someone mentioned about having a villain in the background. If it’s animalistic, I like the idea of bat wings or something emerging from a cocoon.

Aron, If you want to take picture of Amelia upside down go to local indoor rock climbing club. I believe they will rent you harness and help you with safety side of the project. You don’t want her to brake her neck…

These last couple of Phlearn episodes have been very cool. Not Photoshop or photography specific. More of a thinking through the process series which of course is very important, interesting and beneficial for us Phlearnaholics to see too.

I think the theme is out of this world. I would place so kind of robotic or alien like animals. Maybe on great robotic spider and some smaller creatures. Lots of cold metal with blue glowing lights.

I got one other concept that’s based upon the cocoon thing. If Amelia is evolving into something new, stunning beautiful (not meaning she isn’t already) there could be some creatures gathering around here in curiosity. Like they are not sure whats going on but curios about the out come.

Since the idea was inspired from snow and winter, I wonder about making the distance more reminiscent of Springtime. She’s trapped in the cold winter, waiting for Spring to make its way to where she is.

hahah i love your kitty 🙂 my mom would do stage design for church and use that foam all the time! she had a wire that would get hot and would cut the foam easy and quick, she also used a projector for doing outlines and would sometimes use a spray can to eat away the foam to give it a cool texture
looks like this image will be pretty awesome can’t wait to see it complete!